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About Jehuda

Señor Jehuda, aka "El Blogo de Liberto", is an attorney and media professional with a background in TV marketing and production, copywriting, independent filmmaking, and spontaneously speaking perfect Spanish. A proud Texan who recently escaped from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, he spends far too much time thinking about movies. Jehuda is also a contributor at YesButHowever.com and PJ Lifestyle.

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All original content on The Rhetorican - including the "Gravatar" photo of the Chrysler Building - is copyrighted and the property of this blog's author unless otherwise indicated; and is not to be used without permission except as provided herein.

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“Sooner or later, I think everyone will have to face what we’re facing right now,” [Vermont Law School Dean Marc] Mihaly said during an interview with The National Law Journal on November 26. “We’re all facing the winds of sweeping change,” he said. Mihaly said that the voluntary buyout offers were sent to staff members not long ago and administrators at the school hope the buyouts will help the school meet most of its goal. Mihaly also noted that the school could be in for more cuts somewhere along the line.

Hobby Lobby, the mega craft store, has lost the first round of their case against the government over the contraception mandate, and will be fined $1.3 million per day starting January 1st if they do not pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients through employee provided insurance. As a “secular” corporation, they have no rights to use the religious beliefs of their ownership as a justification not to abide by the contraception mandate.

Of course, as Ben notes at the link, this isn’t over yet. And if it makes it to SCOTUS I believe Hobby Lobby has more than a fighting chance of prevailing; but if Obama is still president when and if the case gets there, get ready for another howler from him about how the Supreme Court has no power of judicial review or something…

I got a link to a related Reporter article by e-mail yesterday or the day before. I was surprised to learn that the Reporter’s management had adopted such a strongly anti-communist posture back in the day, but the word ‘Holocaust’ wasn’t anywhere in the text. However, I believe what Goldberg’s piece refers to is this apology from the son of the Reporter’s founder.

I have to agree that terming the blacklist a Holocaust is a ridiculous exaggeration. Blacklisted talent often went on to work in Europe. No genocidal government ever gave a similar alternative to the populations they were intent on destroying.

Ruling Class Update: Jesse Jackson Jr. Resigns from Congress amid FBI investigation: “The FBI investigation has been looking at Jackson’s alleged use of campaign funds to decorate his home and to buy a $40,000 Rolex watch for a female friend. The investigation into misused campaign funds has now expanded to include Jackson’s wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, according to reports.”

For the GOP, this would be far preferable to the current scenario. Right now, Democrats are demanding that Republicans raise taxes while Republicans are demanding that Democrats agree to cut Social Security and Medicare spending. A grand bargain this fall, then, would mean that Republicans get to raise revenue from their own supporters (small-business job creators) in exchange for cutting spending for their own supporters (seniors). Genius! Much better to wipe the slate clean, and start over with more leverage for fundamental tax reform and structural entitlement reform.

What if we go off the fiscal cliff and Democrats still won’t negotiate? Then Republicans should make clear that they are willing to live with the higher, Clinton-era rates. It will be hard for the Democrats to paint such a scenario as an economic disaster, because letting the Bush tax cuts expire simply restores the status quo during the Clinton administration. During the campaign, President Obama repeatedly told us how he wants to “go back to the income tax rates we were paying under Bill Clinton — back when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history, and plenty of millionaires to boot.” Well if the Clinton tax rates were so great, let’s go back to all of the Clinton rates and relive the booming ’90s.

Asymmetrical Stupidity: Taliban Reveal Identities of Their Mailing List Members: “The list, made up of more than 400 recipients, consists mostly of journalists, but also includes an address appearing to belong to a provincial governor, an Afghan legislator, several academics and activists, an l Afghan consultative committee, and a representative of Gulbuddein Hekmatar, an Afghan warlord whose outlawed group Hezb-i-Islami is believed to be behind several attacks against coalition troops.”

Obama sounds an awful lot like the ‘advise and consent’ provisions of the Constitution mean nothing to him (what else is new?). But nomination fights are supposed to be outrageous. Ever heard of Borking? Look it up. Oh, wait, that’s only when the president is Republican. Never mind…

I must confess that since I became a libertarian, Republican defeats just don’t sting as much as they used to, no matter how much I root against Democrats. The status quo wins either way, if you think about it.

Besides, we must put presidential power in perspective. Obama is clueless at what makes an economy like ours grow – and his foreign policy leaves much to be desired. That much is clear. Not to mention he personally has a narcissistic and authoritarian streak that would make the average Leftie tear his hair out if Obama were a Republican. But it’s not “the end of America”, or anything like that…

If I had more time, I’d write a nice essay that goes in-depth into why I feel the way I feel, but I barely have time to blog as it is…

Today in Jackassery: Axelrod laughing at questions about Benghazi, explained.

The short version is that this administration puts politics above everything (did right from the start, too) – including civility and common decency. They have nothing but contempt for anyone who disagrees with them or opposes them. That’s not presidential. It’s despotic – and hopefully it will end before too long…

A warm welcome to all new visitors. This blog used to be updated daily, but it’s now updated several times a week – at best. And it’s rarely updated on weekends. I have to keep posts quite short, too. Still, odds are you will find some fun posts here linking to something you haven’t read yet…

You don’t really need Rush’s permission to adapt his life story to the screen, as long as you stick to public records and known facts about him. But I have the feeling that if Rush can lawfully stop this project from coming to fruition (and it’s quite possible that he could have that opportunity), he will. Or at least he will make it more difficult and time-consuming than it would be otherwise…

So we’ve been eating a lot of turkey lately, mostly because Dr. Wife is so busy with schoolwork and her full time job (which is not the practice of medicine – she has a doctorate in another area). So every other week or so she’ll cook a whole turkey in the oven on a Sunday, which will feed us for a week.

Meanwhile, I’ve been barbecuing chicken in one form or another on Sunday nights on non-Turkey weeks. Saves us time in the kitchen. And – most importantly – it saves my wife time. But – and this might come in handy for Thanksgiving and Christmas – to keep the turkey juicier longer while it’s in the fridge we are making use of these gigantic Ziploc Big Bag Double Zipper, X-Large bags at Amazon. Box of 4 goes for less than $7.